“I don’t see any reason why women can’t be ordained,” Carson, a Seventh-day Adventist, told The Associated Press this weekend. Carson went on to call his church's recent vote against a measure to ordain women a "huge mistake."

Francis has repeatedly stated his opposition to ordaining women, saying that while he supports a "greater role" for women in the church, the priesthood is only open to men. "Women priests—that cannot be done," the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics said last month during a press conference.